Event: NDTV India “Muqabla” (Television Chat Show)
Topic: “Fuel Price Hike”
Date: 06th June, 2008
Panelists: Dr. D. K. Joshi, Senior Economist, CRISIL, Mr. Ram Nayak, Former Railway Minister and Lok Sabha MP, Maharashtra, Dr. Adbhishek Singhvi, Rajya Sabha MP and National Spokesperson, Congress, Mr. Sundareshan, Additional Secretary Petroleum Ministry, Mr. Dipankar Mukharjee  former leader of CPI(M), Mr. Pranjoy Guha, Former Director, School of Convergence, Mr. Narendra Taneja, South Asia Bureau Chief Upstream.
Total Students: 35

IIPM Gurgaon students were invited to be a part of a Chat Show on NDTV India titled “Muqabla”. The program was hosted by Dibang Gandhi the NDTV anchor. The domain of discussion was “Is it justified to increase the price of Petroleum Products?”

The main reason behind the discussion was the decision taken by the Indian Government on Wednesday 05 June, 08 to increase the price of Petrol and Diesel by about 10 % and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by 17%, the biggest hike in fuel prices in 12 years. There was an exchange of intellectually stimulating ideas between the guests and the audience.

Former Railway Minister Mr. Ram Nayak argued that the reason behind the increase in price was due to the hike in international price. Even after increase in the price of petrol / diesel, the oil companies were still loosing money. Upon which Mr. Dipankar said that the landed price of the petrol could not be more than Rs. 37 if there were no custom duties and sales taxes and should be transparency in fixing the price of petrol and the customer should know that how the price is sub-divided and what is the basis of this price of petrol was calculated and fixed. They also said that the recent increase in price was alarming and called for roll back otherwise the consumers were forced to level down the consumption of petrol. This was bound to affect adversely the economy. Mr. Taneja said that the government had done its best under a given situation. In the end, Mr. Pranjoy appealed to the mass population for greater use of public transport.

In a nut shell, all the speakers agreed that India needed a long term petroleum policy.